Automatic fishing machine

ABSTRACT

Installed alongside the gunwale of a fishing boat, this machine automatically repeats a fixed cycle of fishing operation which comprises the steps of keeping the fishing pole tip at a fixed height from the surface of the water while waiting for a fish to bite and, upon sensing the bit of a fish at the hook, swinging up the fishing pole to hoist the fish from the sea into the air, subsequently causing the fish to come free of the hook in mid-air above the boat&#39;&#39;s deck and fall on the deck and, with the release of tension in the line, causing the fishing pole to be immediately lowered to the original position for the next bite.

United States Patent [1 1 Tadano [451 Jan. 16, 1973 541 AUTOMATIC FISHING MACHINE 2,536,576 1/1951 Silva ..43/15 3,138,890 6/1964 Mitchell ..43/6.5 [75] Invent Tadam Japa 3,192,659 7/1965 Rice ..43/15 [73] Assignee: Suzuki Iron Works Company Limited, Mujagi-ken, Japan Primary Examiner-Warner H. Camp 22 Filed: March 30,1971 Ammeynxurt Kelma [21] Appl. No.: 129,249 [57] ABSTRACT Installed alongside the gunwale of a fishing boat, this [30] Foreign Application Priority Data machine automatically repeats a fixed cycle of fishing operation which comprises the steps of keeping the gk inlfibllgm japan fishing p p at a fixed height from the surface of apan I the water while waiting for a fish to bite and, upon sensing the bit of a fish at the hook, swinging up the (Cll fishing pole to hoist the fish from the Sea into the air, [58] Fieid l 9 2 27 4 subsequently causing the fish to come free of the hook in mid-air above the boats deck and fall on the deck and, with the release of tension in the line, causing the [56] References Cited fishing pole to be immediately lowered to the original UNITED STATES PATENTS position for the next bite.

2,523,592 9/1950 Powell ct al. ..43/|5 3 Claims, 27 Drawing Figures 13d 6 2 o L 14 0 13b l r o 8o PAIENTEDJMI 16 I915 3.710.499

sum 02 0F 16 Pmlzmmm 16 ms 3.710.499

SHEET 030F 16 SHEET OBUF 16 Fig.9

VIII-III;

PATENTEDJM 16 I975 SHEET 07 0F 16 Fig.11

PATENTEUJMI l 6 I975 SHEET OBUF 16 PATENTEDJM 16 ms SHEET llUF 16 Fig.15

PATENTEDJM 16 I975 3.710.499 SHEET 12 0F 16 L M n L Q b u T w T i 6 Lilli 1 g I u II v F n F L L II! L 1 Q U .mlLllllL 4 h |L T Y IIIL VAL PATENTEDJAN 15 ms SHEET 130F 16 Fig.17

PATENTEDJAH 16 1975 SHEET lSUF 16 Fig.19

AUTOMATIC FISHING MACHINE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIGN This invention relates to an automatic fishing machine for catching skipjack tunas, winter albacores and the like by the use of a fishing pole.

The conventional pole fishing method is such that, when the fishing boat reaches a fishing ground, a number of fishermen stand side by side along the gunwale of the boat, each holding a fishing pole outwardly above the sea, and each fisherman, on sensing the bite of a fish at the fishing hook below the sea surface, swings up the fishing pole to hoist the fish from the sea into the air and, as the fish reaches a point above the boats deck, jerks the fish off the hook onto the deck and, on release of the fish from the hook, immediately swings the fishing pole back to its original position for the next fish.

Since the conventional pole fishing method thus requires the heavy labor of a large number of fishermen, the recent shortage of manpower, particularly the shortage of fishermen required aboard the fishing boat, and the consequent sharp rise in labor cost are causing a sharp decline in the profitability of fishing operations employing this method. Although there already exist 7 fishing machines for bringing up fish by reeling or by operation of a pole, these conventional machines require the fish to be removed from the hook by hand. Thus, these machines are wholly unsuited to the pole fishing operation in which the hooked fish must be hoisted in rapid succession with the. minimum allowable loss of time by reversing the direction of motion of the fishing pole, while the pole is in its upward swing hoisting the hooked fish, thereby removing the fish from hook and, almost at the same instant, returning the hook back to its original position for the next fish.

In the case of a fishing boat using the pole fishing method, the boat, upon arrival at a fishing ground, is compelled to begin fishing even when the sea in that area is rough, because it has only a limited supply of engine fuel and food for the crew. Fishermen standing side by side along the gunwale of the boat in rough seas are exposed to the danger of falling overboard. In the sea where the boat is rolled 2 to 3 meters, the tips of the poles held out from the gunwale above the sea surface are in danger of being plunged into swelling waves and.

consequently being broken if no allowance is made for the change in distance between the gunwale and the surface of the sea. Thus, each fisherman is required to keep his fishing pole from plunging into the water by moving it up and downin harmony with the rolling motion of the boat.

It is an object of the present invention to propose an automatic fishing machine suited to pole fishing and designed to carry out the fishingoperation in the place of fishermen even in harsh weather.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device whereby the speed at which the fishing pole is swung up upon detection of a bite is as great as possible, this speed and the resilience of the pole being utilized in combination to hoist the hooked fish from the water and send the fish flying along a parabolic locus and the pole being caused to swing down upon detection of the loss of tension in the fishing line when the speed of the fish surpasses the speed of upward swing of the pole to slacken the fishing line and thereby free the fish from the hook to fall on the boats deck and bring the pole back to its original position.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device such that, whenever the rolling motion of the boat tends to vary the height of the pole tip held in the fishing position from the surface of water, the fishing pole is instantaneously moved in proportion. to such variation so as to maintain the pole tip at a fixed height andconsequently prevent the pole from being broken by the water or the fishing hook from being raised to a level where there are no fish, whereby the fishing can be continued even on rough sea without exposing the fishermen to danger or diminishing the catch.

If the fish remains hooked at the time that the pole is swung back downwardly from the extreme of its upward swing, the fish will be brought back into the water. In such case or when the hook gets caught on the fisherman or on the boats gear on deck, it is not desirable to continue the downward swinging motion of the pole. Therefore, it is another object of this invention to provide a device to stop the downward swinging motion of the pole upon detection of a tension in the fishing line and to restart the motion upon release of tension from the line, whereby loss of hooked fish, breakage of the fishing pole and fishing line and other dangers are eliminated.

Further, this invention aims to provide a device which, if the hooked fish fails to come free from the hook when the pole is swung back downwardly from the extreme of its upward swing, causes the pole tip to swing upwardly again toward the boat, whereby the hooked fish is lowered to the boats deck and unhooked by hand.

.This invention also aims to provide fishing equipment so designed that one fisherman can attend to a plurality of fishing machines, for example, a total of 10 fishing machines, each of which accomplishes the fishing operation in the place of human hands, whereby the size of the fishing crew may be decreased to a substantial extent.

The other objects of this invention will become apparent from the more detailed disclosure made hereinafter of preferred embodiments of this invention with reference to the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front elevation of the machine proper;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation illustrating a part of the said machine proper;

F lG.'3A is a diagram of the electric circuit existing when the fishing pole is in the waiting position;

FIG. 3B is a diagram of the electric circuit existing when a fish has bit at the hook;

FIG. 4A is a diagram of the hydraulic circuit existing when the fishing pole is in waiting position;

FIG. 4B is a diagram of the hydraulic circuit existing when the pole is being swung upwardly to hoist the hooked fish from the water;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the hoisting of a hooked fish;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams illustrating the operating principle of the rolling compensator,

FlG. 7A is a system diagram illustrating the rolling compensator as it exists when the boat is not being rolled;

FIG. 7B is a system diagram illustrating the condition in which the rolling compensator is actuated when the boat is rolled to the left; and FIG. 7C is a system diagram illustrating the condition of the rolling compensator subsequent to completion of its operation.

FIG. 8 through FIG. 15, incl., represent a second preferred embodiment. FIG. 8 is a rear view of the machine proper;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of the said machine proper;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a part of the machine proper;

FIG. 11 is a diagram of the hydraulic circuit existing when the pole is being swung upwardly;

FIG. 12 is a diagram of the hydraulic circuit existing when the pole is swung down;

FIG. 13 is a diagram of the hydraulic circuit existing when ajiggling motion is imparted to the pole tip;

FIGS. 14A and B are explanatorydiagrams illustrating the operation of the rolling compensator; and

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the condition in which a hooked fish which has failed to come off to hook is lowered to the deck.

FIG. 16 through FIG. 20, incl., represent a third preferred embodiment which combines the rolling compensator of the first preferred embodiment and a modification of the pole-operating device of the second preferred embodiment. FIG. 16 is a diagram of the hydraulic circuit existing when the pole is swung upwardly,

FIG. 17 is a diagram of the hydraulic circuit existing when the pole is swung downwardly;

FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 are diagrams of the hydraulic circuit existing when the jiggling motion is being imparted to the pole tip; and

FIGS. 20A and B are explanatory diagrams illustrating the operation of the rolling compensator.

In the first preferred embodiment depicted by FIG. 1 through FIG. 7, 1 denotes a reversible rotary hydraulic actuator such as a hydraulically operated torque cylinder, fitted with a rotary shaft 2. By virtue of the direction controlling valve 3 connected to the hydraulic circuit thereof, rotary shaft 2 of the torque cylinder 1 can be made to rotate either clockwise or counterclockwise with reference to the diagram of FIG. 1. When the direction controlling valve 3 is in neutral position as illustrated in FIG. 4A, however, the cylinder 1 is restrained so as to impede the rotation of the rotary shaft 2.

At one end of the said rotary shaft 2 which protrudes through one side panel 1' of the torque cylinder 1, there is fitted a holder 4 which is adapted to interchangeably receive and firmly grip the butt of fishing pole 5. On the said holder 4, there is fixed a microswitch 6 separately.

The pole 5 has such degree of resilience that it is bent by the pull of the hooked fish struggling in the water and becomes straight again when the fish is brought out of the water. It has guides 8 fixed at intervals for holding a fishing line 7 parallelly thereto. The fishing line 7 is passed through the guides 8, with one end fastened to an operating lever 6' of the switch 6 and the other end drawn out in required length from the tip of pole 5 to suspend a hook 9. If pole 5 is made hollow, the fishing line 7 may be sent through the inside thereof and drawn out in required length from the tip thereof.

The aforementioned direction controlling valve 3 is so designed that, when the two solenoids 3a and 3b are both in an unexcited state, the valve is retained in its neutral position to block the ports P and T of the hydraulic circuit and the ports A and B of the torque cylinder 1 and the rotary shaft 2 is thereby impeded from rotation. When the solenoid 3a is excited, connection is established between the ports P and A and between the ports B and T, causing the rotary shaft 2 to rotate clockwise and the pole 5 to swing upwardly. When the solenoid 3b is excited, connection is established between the ports P and B and between the ports A and T, causing the rotary shaft to rotate clockwise and the pole 5 to swung downwardly. Therefore, the direction controlling valve 3 constitutes an actuator which serves the purpose of controlling the torque cylinder 1 to swing up and swing down the pole 5 as well as to bring it to a stop.

To the said port B, a throttle 11 having a variable or invariable aperture is connected in parallel with a check valve 10, so that, when the pole is in the process of upward swing, the check valve 10 is pushed open to permit transmission of hydraulic pressure and, when the pole is in the process of downward swing, the hydraulic pressure is allowed to be transmitted only through the throttle 11. Thus, the rotating speed of the rotary shaft is substantially higher when the pole is in the upward swing than when it is in the downward swmg.

Limit switches 13a and 13b of the type regularly held in their ON state are disposed on the aforementioned side panel 1 of the torque cylinder and connected to the excitation circuits 12a and 12b respectively of the said solenoids 3a and 3b. On the rotary shaft, there is fixed an actuator 14 which operates to turn off the said two limits 13a and 13b in such way that the upward swing of pole is stopped by turning off the switch 13a and the downward swing of pole is stopped by turning off the switch 13b.

The aforementioned circuits 12a and 12b are connected in parallel arrangement to the power source. The microswitch 6 is drawn by a spring 6" so as to connect the circuit 12b constantly to the power source (FIG. 3A). Only when a load is applied to impart tension to the fishing line as when a fish bite at the hook, the circuit 12a is brought into connection with the power source (FIG. 3B). The magnitude of the load necessary to actuate the microswitch 6 can be adjusted by selecting the resilience of spring 6".

While the pole 5 is in the lowered position awaiting a bite, the microswitch 6 keeps the power source in connection with the circuit 12b and the actuator 14 retains the limit switch 13b in its OFF position in the circuit 12b. Thus, neither the solenoid 3b of the direction controlling valve 3 nor the solenoid 3a operates and, as a consequence, the ports P and T and the ports A and B are blocked to keep the pole in its lowered position where it waits for a fish to bite. When a fish is hooked, the fishing linc tenses and causes the lever 6 to cut in the microswitch 6, bringing the circuit into connection with the power source.

Therefore, the circuit 12a of the solenoid 3a is closed via the limit switch 13a which is turned on consequently, permitting the direction controlling valve 3 to establish connection between the ports P and A and the ports B and T. As a result, the rotary shaft 2 is rotated clockwise to swing up the pole 5 (FIG. 4B).

The condition in which a fish is hoisted is explained with reference to FIG. 5. When a fish bites at the hook at the point I, the pole is immediately swung upwardly at a high rate of speed, setting hook 9 in the fishs mouth. Then, the pole 5 pulls at the fish with the aid of the line 7 and it is bent greatly by the resistance resulting from the fish struggling in the water. As the fish is brought out of water, the resistance is reduced and the pole 5 recovers its straightened state abruptly. The resilience sharply accelerates the upward motion of the fish and, at the point II, the speed at which the fish is flying exceeds the speed of the upward swing of the pole and the fish is in a substantially horizontal posi tion. In this condition, the pole recovers its straightened state and the line slackens. Consequently, the spring 6 pulls the switch 6 to its original position, bringing the circuit 12b into connection with the power source, with the result that the solenoid 3b is actuated to confer a downward swing on the pole. Thus, the pole is stopped momentarily. In the meantime, the fish keeps flying toward the boat and flies past the pole, at which time a slow downward swing is given to the pole so that, at the point III, the hook is drawn backwardly and consequently extracted from the fishs mouth. By virtue of the reaction caused by the extraction of the hook, the fish spins in the air and falls onto the boats deck.

The downward swing of the pole continues to bring the hook back into the water again. This downward swing stops when the actuator 14 turns the limit switch 3b off.

Thus, the present invention causes a hooked fish to be hoisted out of the water and sent flying in the air describing a parabolic locus. Therefore, it is apparent that the length of the said locus is determined by the resilience of the pole, the initial velocity at which the pole is swung upwardly and the anglev at which the hooked fish is hoisted. In order to ensure the safe fall of fish on the deck, therefore, a flow volume controlling valve 15 for adjusting the angular velocity of torque cylinder 1 is incorporated in the hydraulic circuit so that the speed at which the hooked fish is hoisted may be regulated in harmony with the resilience of the pole.

When the fish refuses to come off the hook even after the pole has started its downward swing or when the hook gets caught on the fisherman or the ships gear on deck, the load thus exerted on the line causes the microswitch 6 to snap back and bring the circuit 12a into connection with the power source. Consequently, the pole is once again swung upwardly and, as the actuator 14 turns the limit switch 13a off, it is brought to a stop. The fisherman need only to free the hook after the pole has ceased its upward motion. On removal of the fish, the switch 6 automatically brings the circuit 12b to connection with the power source, with the result that the pole is swung downward to its original position awaiting the next bite.

In the hydraulic circuit, a relief valve 16 is provided in parallel with the aforementioned flow volume controlling valve 15 so as to permit escape of possible overload.

The tip of the pole must be maintained at a fixed height from the surface of the water even when the ship rolls. For this purpose, pivoted table 18 is supported by means of a fulcrum 18a on a stationary frame 17 which is fastened to the boats deck. The torque cylinder 1 and the direction controlling valve 3 are both mounted on the said pivoted table 18. In this case, the fulcrum 18a and the rotary shaft 2 are required to be substantially parallel. The said stationary frame 17 is provided with a hydraulic jack 19 capable of raising or lowering the free end of the pivoted table 18, a servovalve 20 of the type of direction controlling valve capable of actuating the said jack l9, and a rollsensing arm 22 fitted at its lower end with a weight 21 and supported swingably around a fulcrum 22a. The upper end of the arm 22 and the lower end of the link 23 fixed to the fulcrum 18a are interconnected by a lever with the aid of joints 25 and 26. To this lever 24, there is connected the slide spool 20a of the servo-valve 20.

In its neutral position, the said slide spool 20a blocks the hydraulic circuit leading to the jack l9 and, consequently, restrains the motion of the jack. When it is moved to the left or to the right from the neutral position, the slide spool extends the circuit to the jack 19, causing the jack to move upwardly or downwardly.

When the boat is not rolled (FIG. 7A), the stationary frame 17 remains erect and the servo-valve 20 is in its neutral position. Consequently, the upper surface of the pivoted table 18 rests in a horizontal plane, and the tip of fishing poles held over the water from either of the gunwales are at a height h from the surface of the water. As the boat rolls and the hull is inclined to the left by an angle 0,, the stationary frame is similarly inclined in the same direction and, as a consequence, the tip of the pole on the left side with reference to the diagram tends either to plunge into the water or to fall to a height smaller than h with reference to the surface of the water.

At this time, the roll-sensing arm 22 which tends to remains in a vertical position'by virtue of the weight 21 turns round the fulcrum 22a, moving the lever 24 around the joint 25 as its fulcrum and pulling the spool of servo-valve 20 of the stationary frame on the left gunwale to the right, with the result that the jack 19 is raised (FIG. 7B). Thus, the pivoted table 18 rotates round the fulcrum 18a and consequently has its free end raised, while the fulcrum 18a moves the lever 24 around the joint 26 as a fulcrum with the aid of the link 23 so as to push the spool 20a in toward the left. As the tip of the pole 5 is raised to a height h from the surface of water, the spool 20a assumes its neutral position, causing the pivoted table 18 to be inclined by a compensating angle 0 against the rolling angle 0, of the hull..

Since the stationary frame 17 is fixed along the gunwale which is off the center with respect to the rolling, 0, a 6 when the pole is at the proper elevation.

V The value of this 0 is obtained approximately by fixing the ratio of length of the roll-sensing arm 22, link 23 and lever 24 with reference to the width of the boat in accordance with the following conditions.

The compensating angle 6 is given as follows.

0 6, ta 4 Let 6 and 0, stand for the left and right rolling angles and assume 6, =-0 and there are derived the following equations.

R sin 0 h 

1. An automatic fishing machine comprising, in combination, a switch adapted to sense the bite of a fish through a line, a suitably resilient pole having the said line held along therewith and extended downwardly from the forward tip thereof, a reversible rotary type actuator adapted to impart an upward swing to the pole, when the said switch senses the bite of a fish, while permitting the said pole to be bent by the pull exerted thereon by the fish struggling in the water and to impart a subsequent downward swing to the pole so as to jerk the fish off the hook, when there occurs a sharp decline in the force of said pull as a result of the fish having been pulled out of the water and sent flying at an accelerated speed which exceeds that of the upward swing of the pole by the action of the pole as it recovers it original straight state, a pole operating means disposed between the said switch and the said actuator and adapted to control the rotating speed of the actuator so as to increase the speed of the upward swing of the pole substantially as compared with the speed of the downward swing of the pole, a roll-sensing arm for detecting the rolling of the ship by means of a weight, and a means cooperating with the said roll-sensing arm for compensating for changes in the height of the pole above the water surface in proportion to the degree of rolling of the ship as the pole is held outwardly from the ship while waiting for a fish to bite.
 2. An automatic fishing machine according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is provided on a table rocked controllably by the roll-sensing arm in proportion to the degree of the rolling of the ship detected thereby.
 3. An automatic fishing machine according to claim 1, wherein the actuator has a rotary shaft angularly rotated in proportion to the degree of the rolling of the ship detected by the roll-sensing arm. 